Bodies of 48 Sunni tribal fighters killed by Islamic State group found in mass grave

FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, militants from the Islamic State parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle on a main street in Mosul, Iraq. The Islamic state group has accelerated killings of former policemen and army officers, apparently fearing they might join a potential internal Sunni uprising against its rule. Such killings, including the deadly attack on police Col. Mohammed Hassan and his son in mid October, have accelerated in recent days, as the extremists' opponents - Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes - have made some gains, taking back several towns that the militants had overrun. (AP Photo, File)
(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, June 23, 2014, fighters of the al-Qaida-inspired Islamic State group, then known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces vehicle on a main road at the northern city of Mosul, Iraq, more than two weeks after they took over the country's second largest city. The Islamic state group has accelerated killings of former policemen and army officers, apparently fearing they might join a potential internal Sunni uprising against its rule. Such killings, including the deadly attack on police Col. Mohammed Hassan and his son in mid October, have accelerated in recent days, as the extremists' opponents - Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes - have made some gains, taking back several towns that the militants had overrun. (AP Photo, File)
(The Associated Press)

FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, July 28, 2014, a motorist passes by a flag of the Islamic State group at the entrance of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Iraq. The Islamic state group has accelerated killings of former policemen and army officers, apparently fearing they might join a potential internal Sunni uprising against its rule. Such killings, including the deadly attack on police Col. Mohammed Hassan and his son in mid October, have accelerated in recent days, as the extremists' opponents - Kurdish fighters and Shiite militias, backed by U.S.-led airstrikes - have made some gains, taking back several towns that the militants had overrun. (AP Photo, File)
(The Associated Press)

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi official says authorities have found the bodies of 48 Sunni tribesmen killed by the Islamic State group in the restive western province of Anbar.

Faleh al-Issawi, a councilman in the Anbar provincial government, says the bodies were found Thursday in a mass grave outside the town of Hit.

He says those killed were tribal fighters allied with the government and members of the security forces who were rounded up from villages around Hit after IS militants seized the area in early October. Most of the tribal fighters came from the Al Bu Nimr tribe, he said.

A day earlier, another 30 bodies of Sunni fighters killed by the Islamic State group in Hit was found. The town is located about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of Baghdad.